You’ve Been Changed Today

thinkDo you realize that you’re being changed everyday you live on this planet? Whether it’s good or bad is up to you.
This is true because of the wonderful brain God gave you. It collects all kinds of data through your senses that will eventually come out in your behavior, which if repeated, will change your character (Rom. 12:2). You’re being bombarded with daily messages from talk radio spouting their opinions, from advertisers selling their product that will bring satisfaction you’re looking for, from news writers filtering the news through their worldview, from Facebook chatter and Twitter feeds, from TV shows and movies telling their stories, and on and on it goes ad infinitum throughout your day wherever you go. I didn’t even mentioned what you say to yourself!
The crucial question is, “What are you doing with this data?” Your brain can’t ignore it or block it out! Unless you filter it out, the incoming data will affect you. You don’t always have a choice over what you hear, but you do have total choice over what you will do once you hear it. Talking to the radio is not a bad thing. Nodding your head to the lyrics of song is a good thing. Stopping the movie to talk about what went on is okay, especially if it’s a children’s show!
If you want to change for the good, which means becoming more like Jesus, you need to constantly filter this data through the truths of Scripture. You’ve got to let Jesus wash your brain of the lies that are in and/or have already entered your brain (Eph. 5:26).
I greatly encourage you today, in the Spirit’s power, to use the FREEdom process Jesus gave you in the Scriptures. As you use do, it will wash out the lies and reinforce the truths that will set you free to enjoy true satisfaction – one that starts today and lasts forever – a Christ-like changed life.
Filter or not to filter, that’s your choice and that choice today will affect your life tomorrow – good or bad.
Set “FREE” Nowww
If you want to know more about the FREEdom process or can’t remember how to use it, get the book, More Than a Sunday Faith, to learn or refresh your memory.

Get Repentance Right!

repentRepent! You’ve seen the signs. You’ve seen the angry faces and pointed fingers. Yet, the word repent is being greatly misused. It has nothing to do with your behavior! The English word is based on a Greek word that means to change your thinking, not your behavior!
When most people hear this word, however, they believe God is asking them to stop doing what they’re doing. Nope, that’s only window dressing the problem. Jesus wants to change you from the inside out, not the other way around; and, the only way to do this is to get at the root of the problem – your lie-based thinking.
Ask yourself, “Is your way of living working for you?” It not, don’t examine what you’re doing wrong; examine what you’re thinking, as there lays the issue. Jesus doesn’t want us to stop our sinful behavior and replace it with a better one. He knows that if the lie-based thinking still exists, your old behavior will re-surface again.
It’s time to examine your thinking. Biblical repentance leads to victory over that sin/drug of choice. So, if you’re way of living brings you down rather than up, use the FREEdom process today to begin the process of true repentance that leads to lasting life change.
Se“T” Free Nowww

Don’t Wait Until the Weekend to Rest

work while restI hate to admit this, but I love the weekends. I put in way more than my 40+ hours a week to have a few days off to kick it doing things I want to do with family and friends. I work to rest. After talking with a good friend of mine, I’ve had to since filter that thought using the FREEdom process.
He observed that after working to create the universe on Days 1-5 and then man and woman on Day 6, God rested. This means that man and woman rested as well. God worked and then rested so humanity could rest and then work.
Yes, God had a small job for Adam on Day 6 before he rested – name the animals. God used it to show Adam that only He would meet Adam’s needs, not Adam. God would be the one working while Adam rested in God’s care. After creating Eve, God gave them their future life’s work – be fruitful, rule and subdue the earth. Yet it was resting while working, not working to get rest.
Are you working hard each week to get some rest on the weekend? Wearying isn’t it? Working even harder now while hoping to find rest later in heaven? Even more tiresome, isn’t it? Jesus provides the solution to our fatigue.
He was once asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” His answer shocked them, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.” (John 6:28-29) Belief in Him, not work, brings rest. God worked then rested so we could rest then work. Rest in Him each minute while doing the “good works” He gave you to do. As we do, we will find rest for our weary souls.
I had to filter out the lie of working to get rest. Do you?
S“E”t Free Nowww

Prayer is Not For Wimps

whimpsI gathered together today with a group of pastors where I heard the most amazing Jesus story. One of the guys shared about how his wife has been going through stomach issues for over five months. It took the doctors months to discover what was wrong and then it’s taken additional time for the treatment to reverse the damage cause by the little bugger that caused the problem.
During this time, she lost pounds she couldn’t afford to lose. Worst of all, she wasn’t able to leave the house, which meant attending service or having guests over was out of the question. After finally getting healthy enough to attend service, she told how she held onto her faith in a good God even when He wasn’t answering her prayers. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place! People could relate big time to her situation.
Lives were immensely touched that day. Then I remembered what I wrote yesterday, “Let the Spirit, using your current challenges, enlarge your view of your God. As you do, you’ll experience the kind of victory that others will see and ask about.”
Then I thought, Should I have been praying for God to heal her when in fact it was through her painful struggle that not only did her view of God enlarge, but so did those in her church family? I know it sounds harsh, but doesn’t it often take struggles coming from this world to get us to begin to think rightly about our God? (See Hebrews 12:1-11.)
I’m not saying to ask the Lord to pile on the pain! I guess what I’m suggesting, though, is that we stop and ask, “Lord, how do You want me to enter the battle for this for request?” Might He say, “Pray for them to have the strength to endure it so their view of Me will enlarge”? Would you be willing to enter the battle in this way, even though it goes against every fiber in your soul? Prayer is indeed not for wimps.
S“E”t Free Nowww

Your God is Huge!

Huge GodI have a t-shirt that I love to wear that has white straggly haired, blue sunglassed Albert Einstein surfing a good sized wave, only with no board! Underneath this picture is the word, “Imagine.”
It’s asking us to get out of our boxes and think bigger, even the impossible. Jesus said, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” We all have challenges. We all want to experience victory and taste the goodness and greatness of God. The solution starts with the size of our God.
There is a worship song with the lyrics, “How great is our God – sing with me/How great is our God – and all will see/How great, how great is our God.” How great is your God? Victory over your challenges can only come if you know your God to be more powerful than your challenges. Is He?
Let the Spirit, using your current challenges, enlarge your view of your God. As you do, you’ll experience the kind of victory that others will see and ask about.
S“E”t Free Nowww